What are the important events that happened on May 5? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

May 5: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 5 is the 125^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 240 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 22, 2025 – a Monday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,746,403,200 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectaicosapentagon’ day.

Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 288 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,518 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 5 Historical Events

• 1809 –
  Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
• 1809 –
  The Swiss canton of Aargau denies citizenship to Jews.
• 1811 –
  In the second day of fighting at the Peninsular War Battle of Fuentes de Onoro the French army, under Marshall Massena, drive in the Duke of Wellington’s overextended right flank, but French frontal assaults fail to take the town of Fuentes de Onoro and the Anglo-Portugese army holds the field at the end of the day.
• 1865 –
  In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.
• 1904 –
  Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
• 1981 –
  Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
• 1987 –
  Iran-Contra affair: start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America
• 1994 –
  The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
• 2007 –
  All 114 aboard Kenya Airways Flight 507 die when the pilots lose control of the plane and it crashes in Douala, Cameroon.
• 2010 –
  Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis.

Who were born on May 5?

• 867 –
  Uda, Emperor of Japan (d. 931)
• 1832 –
  H.H. Bancroft, American historian and publisher (d. 1918)
• 1909 –
  Miklós Radnóti, Hungarian poet (d. 1944)
• 1928 –
  Nora Denney, American actress (d. 2005)
• 1940 –
  Lasse Åberg, Swedish artist, actor and musician
• 1963 –
  Heidi Kozak, American actress
• 1965 –
  Glenn Seton, Australian racing driver
• 1972 –
  Brad Bombardir, Canadian ice-hockey player
• 1972 –
  James Cracknell, British rower
• 1984 –
  Wade MacNeil, Canadian guitarist (Alexisonfire)

Who died on May 5?

• 311 –
  Galerius, Roman Emperor
• 1309 –
  King Charles II of Naples (b. 1254)
• 1760 –
  Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English murderer (b. 1720)
• 1808 –
  Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist (b. 1757)
• 1855 –
  Sir Robert Inglis, Bt, English politician (b. 1786)
• 1971 –
  Violet Jessop, Titanic survivor (b. 1887)
• 2000 –
  Bill Musselman, American basketball head coach (b. 1940)
• 2004 –
  Ritsuko Okazaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
• 2005 –
  Elisabeth Fraser, American television, film, and stage actress (b. 1920)
• 2011 –
  Claude Choules, last surviving World War I veteran (b. 1901)